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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Many who grow up and live in Needham maintain the notion that nothing ever happened here. It’s not Lexington or Concord, and therefore there hasn’t been anything exciting or exhilarating in Needham’s past. However, this mindset is incredibly wrong, as the Needham Historical Society’s current exhibit, “The History of Needham in 100 Objects,” demonstrates.
Gloria Greis, Executive Director of the Historical Society, explained the importance of the exhibit: “What happened here has larger ramifications on the world. These events often start in a small town and then resonate out to larger places, and so a lot of the time people don’t even realize that some incredibly important movements and events had their beginnings in a smaller place like Needham.”
The exhibit celebrates the 300-year long history of Needham. Planning for it began during a cataloging project, allowing many objects and artifacts that had been in storage or out of site to make their way to the eye of the public. Greis and her colleagues discussed which objects they found the most interesting, and then moved forward with how to arrange them. “Originally we thought we might do it chronologically,” she explained, “but then you find you have many fewer artifacts from say the eighteenth century than you do the twentieth century. So we ended up displaying them according to category, which I think works very nicely. This way you’re able to see how these different events and moments are still impactful today.”
Some of the most relevant moments in the exhibit are artifacts from early Needham vs. Wellesley High School football games, which is, as many know, the oldest high school football rivalry in the country. Their first game was played in 1882, and the rivalry still holds strong today. Also mentioned were the blue trees, a highlight of the holiday season in Needham. These trees began to be decorated in this fashion in 1954. Another theme that permeates to today is that of prohibition, considering the legal purchase of alcohol in Needham only came about in 2003.
Suzanne Baker, Development Manager, explained some of her favorite artifacts from the exhibit. These include the painting “Christmas Morning” by N.C. Wyeth. This is one of the Society’s most important and valuable pieces. Wyeth grew up on South Street, and this painting is probably of a winter in Needham in 1913. Another of Baker’s favorites is the Space Flag. This flag was taken by Needham High School graduate Sunita Williams and traveled around the Earth several times while it was aboard the International Space Station for six months.
Other pieces include the last remaining piece of the Paramount Theater, Needham’s movie theater at one time; a signed picture of local Aly Raisman; and a photograph of people sledding down the hill in front of Needham High School nearly 60 years ago.
The exhibit will remain on display for at least another year.
